LOS ANGELES -- California drug maker ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay $5.6 million and plead guilty to defrauding investors in 1994 and 1995 by misleading them about the status of regulatory approval to sell its flagship drug, ribavirin, as a hepatitis C treatment.

The plea agreement and criminal information are likely to be filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, a Justice Department spokesman said. The information resolves the core issues of a five-year grand jury investigation into ICN's handling of...